Fire Marshall Bill
Let me show ya somethin!!!
Excuse me people, but I think we've discussed in length, in a specific other part of this forum, that the main page has nothing to do with the forums. Please vacate the premises. 
Justin LaBar is what is hurting wrestling
- Thread starter DirtyJosé
- Start date
The Butcher
ð¶
Excuse me people, but I think we've discussed in length, in a specific other part of this forum, that the main page has nothing to do with the forums. Please vacate the premises.
I'm pretty sure everyone sees that line for what it is: "we don't have enough stroke to influence the main page, so don't come to us complaining about it."
Serious Mozzarella
Special Victims Unit
So I'm just getting here.
Isn't LaBar just a fan that aggressively pursued any and every open position with every company having to do with wrestling? He was a writer at first, and now he's like, a part of several indie feds doing, what exactly?
Isn't LaBar just a fan that aggressively pursued any and every open position with every company having to do with wrestling? He was a writer at first, and now he's like, a part of several indie feds doing, what exactly?
klunderbunker
Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
He's a heel manager I believe.
DirtyJosé
Best angle of all: retirement
Also his grandpa was a promoter, so he gets a pass because nepotism. Or something.
Cena Is A Punk Rocker
Accidental spam artist
Okay so LaBar has the nepotism excuse. Well then why the hell is Isenberg so ******ed?
Dan Severn's Moustache
Patent Pending
Pretty much the same reasons. Thinks he's the hot shit, when he's a moron.
lil steroid meat
Unregistered User
I'm more surprised that he gets paid/there is enough interest for him to write about nerdy wrestling stuff like this in a newspaper. Twice a week.
But as far as the article. I find it dumb. Paul Heyman is one of the greatest minds in wrestling because he knows how to think like a consumer. In fact, the WWE's product has become unbearable at times over the past few years because they insist to think they know best simply because of their position instead of noticing what the consumer wants and going off of that.
Also, another thing that is killing pro wrestling is the dirt sheets that tell us angles months/weeks before they happen. I'm not gonna blame spoilers, because you do it to yourself. But literally, headlines that say: "_______ returning soon" or "________ being pushed". Really kills the curiosity and mystique of pro wrestling.
You might even be able to say that the internet is killing pro wrestling.
But as far as the article. I find it dumb. Paul Heyman is one of the greatest minds in wrestling because he knows how to think like a consumer. In fact, the WWE's product has become unbearable at times over the past few years because they insist to think they know best simply because of their position instead of noticing what the consumer wants and going off of that.
Also, another thing that is killing pro wrestling is the dirt sheets that tell us angles months/weeks before they happen. I'm not gonna blame spoilers, because you do it to yourself. But literally, headlines that say: "_______ returning soon" or "________ being pushed". Really kills the curiosity and mystique of pro wrestling.
You might even be able to say that the internet is killing pro wrestling.
Mr. Artistic guy
Better Off This Way
Killam is now also on the list of main page guys I can't stomach reading. I read Madden because he's so brazen, and Paglino and Bob Bamber? because they are kind of neutral. The only main page guy that writes/wrote articles that I consistently liked was Chris Cash.
I mean, what is this crap: http://www.wrestlezone.com/editorials/501913-8-13-stars-in-progress
I mean, what is this crap: http://www.wrestlezone.com/editorials/501913-8-13-stars-in-progress
Dan Severn's Moustache
Patent Pending
I'd rather WhatCulture articles over Wrestlezone columnists at this point.
The Butcher
ð¶
Argh! I clicked on it, thought about what I just did and instantly closed the tab. Don't give these guys the views.
Mr. Artistic guy
Better Off This Way
My apologies. To defeat your enemy, you must first know your enemy.
Pay Per Ghost
What they f*ck happened in the thread section here
The sheer White Knighting when it comes to Killam is what is nauseating. You can't even say that he sucks anymore without the butthurt patrol all over your...well, ass.
The Butcher
ð¶
It's all good, but remember a battle requires at least two participants. They don't care about our critiques. They're cashing checks in part because we keep reading their shit just to discuss how shitty it is.
I'm pretty sure LaBar adopted his antagonistic media persona for this very reason. Before he started acting like a twat, printing obnoxious t-shirts, and talking down to his audience, he was just the balding co-host of a low budget internet wrestling show, likely known more for the weird pedosmile he gave in the intro than anything he ever wrote or said.
Killam, to his credit, took his lumps from the board for as long as I've been here, but it seems he's gotten wise and is likely a happier man by ignoring us. Haven't read much of his stuff. He's young so at least there's room for growth.
I read one of the first "Title This" articles from Isenberg (back when "Title This" was supposed to be a placeholder for a good title) and was exhausted. I felt like a middle school English teacher grading an essay from one of his worst students as I pieced together his sentence fragments and deciphered poor spelling.
I remember back when Cash feuded with Anthony DeBlasi, and was impressed by the way he handled himself when verbally sparring with Don Tony. I occasionally read his articles, and he was a good writer. Despite coming across like a smug wiener sometimes, he's alright with me.
Are we even sure Paglino is a real person? That fucking picture of his is so stock. I'm sure he's a nice enough guy, though, and he's also a good writer.
There's nothing I can say about Madden that hasn't been said. He makes me laugh enough and makes enough good points that I used to look forward to his rants. I've missed a few, but I plan to start back up as I ease back into watching WWE.
I don't even know what point I was trying to make if I had one at all. I dig these forums, and I'm pretty sure we've got some better writers here than they do on the main page. That said, those guys put in the work, made the connections, and have the jobs they have. Props to them, but there are so many better wrestling writers and journalists out there that the main page should be the last place anybody goes for news or opinions.
The Butcher
ð¶
Re-read that and I'm calling myself out.
*goes on to critique them*
Clearly I'm not ready for the main page myself.
*goes on to critique them*
Clearly I'm not ready for the main page myself.
Mr. Artistic guy
Better Off This Way
It seems the only way to make it as a main page writer is to blissfully ignore any feedback you get.
I think I made a similar "rant" a couple of months ago. Especially with regards to the last paragraph. There's people here that write better and would do more work as well. Killam once reviewed an episode of RAW whilst skipping through. He actually reviewed segments he didn't watch based on what he expected them to be like. I think it would have benefited him to stay around and read feedback, even if it was negative, because for however much of it is just random negative jibes, some of it is going to be genuinely useful. Now, maybe he'll get better but I'm not holding out hopes.
As annoying as Isenberg is, I take him 99 times out of 100 over LaBar. He's not so smug. And he has more reason to be because LaBar's knowledge and analysis is the dumps. That's the main gripe I have with him. That's he's a wrestling analyst and he's dreadful at it. Madden doesn't give a shit and only psts articles when he feels like it, but he's usually far more on point, even when he goes over the top.
Paglino you can't really feel to strongly about. He's just middle of the road and doesn't usually post anything controversial.
I think these guys should be members of the forums. You can guarantee good discussion just be number and they'd inevitably learn and grow their knowledge by the stack of individual opinions housed here. But I'm sure LaBar feels he's above it now because he once met Kevin Nash.
Good Golly It's Ollie
Magical Girl
Okay, somewhat agree. But WWE have shown something significant this year regarding Daniel Bryan: A willingness to go back on previous booking and put over who the fans majorly want to see.
Regarding the dirt sheets, they do provide a lot of spoilers, but so do a lot of TV mags here for soaps e.g. "So-and-so Mitchell dies on Eastenders this week?!" That's right, soap dirt sheets are an actual physical publication. Soaps seem to be doing just fine in spite of, or even because of this. It's all a hype train. It's how you advertise. WWE roster reveal for example. Look how it's a gradual set up, "Oh, were you on the fence about this game? What if we tell you that this guy is on the roster!" If you've heard of the big crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros., they always hype it in a similar way for months on end before the game comes out, gradually unveiling characters and features.
So I'd say it's entirely possible that dirt sheets in a sense help the wrestling business because they build hype. "Sting might come to WWE" being a prime example this year. Then it's "Sting might wrestle a match", then after "Sting might wrestle the Undertaker".
Opinions are still capable of being shit and poorly backed up, and many WZ articles are opinions. But news/rumours can be helpful to the industry, even if it only ensures a hardcore portion of the fanbase will watch next week.
And you know what hardcore fans like to do? Complain about the product only being 97% good. That 3% of shit, man, that's just terrible. I know I'm bad for this as well, I hold my hands up to it. But the complainer will watch sometimes, in order to see if his complaint is resolved. If not, then good, because now he has even more stuff to complain about.
The Butcher
ð¶
I can understand it to a degree. The insults have to get old quick, and no one wants to sift through a dozen comments knocking their appearance, intellect, etc. before they get to a piece of constructive criticism. Along with that (and perhaps the bigger problem), the people who run these sites clearly have low-to-no standards, so there's little incentive for a writer to improve. I'm sure it doesn't take long before a columnist just dismisses all their critics as jealous haters., and I'm sure they're right about a fair number of those critics.
I bet Killam would disagree. And hey, LaBar didn't just meet Kevin Nash, he tagged up with him. Once you headline Wrestlelution you've pretty much made it and can feel free to look down upon everyone else.
I dunno most wrestling articles are either complaining about the product being lame/tame or simply trying to make a case of being better at business than you know the group of people that manage a billion dollar company.
It is 2014 and we are still bigging up names from 1997 as the 'saviours' of wrestling. FFS these media guys should start whiteknighting some relative unknown backstage guys given they have so many 'sources'.
It is 2014 and we are still bigging up names from 1997 as the 'saviours' of wrestling. FFS these media guys should start whiteknighting some relative unknown backstage guys given they have so many 'sources'.
Isn't that true for most columnists though? Not just talking wrestling, but sports, politics, film, etc. The feedback system is broken and needs to be fixed. There are many columnists with great columns that have the unfortunate string of comments below "What a ***!" "Go kill yourself, please." "They pay you to write this shit".
It doesn't excuse the wrestlezone writers though. You can't brag about x number of hits and over x number of comments in your section with half of them being "you're a fatass" or arguing about Roman Reigns' hair. It's not a good metric to be using when proving your value.
Mr. Artistic guy
Better Off This Way
I can understand it to a degree. The insults have to get old quick, and no one wants to sift through a dozen comments knocking their appearance, intellect, etc. before they get to a piece of constructive criticism. Along with that (and perhaps the bigger problem), the people who run these sites clearly have low-to-no standards, so there's little incentive for a writer to improve. I'm sure it doesn't take long before a columnist just dismisses all their critics as jealous haters., and I'm sure they're right about a fair number of those critics.
I bet Killam would disagree. And hey, LaBar didn't just meet Kevin Nash, he tagged up with him. Once you headline Wrestlelution you've pretty much made it and can feel free to look down upon everyone else.
True. That's why it's good to be a member here. You aren't going to get so many people seeing your articles and opinions and especially in the spam sections, these are a selection of people who have evolved to not just saying "x, y and z sux attitudeera4eva". You can get a select amount of qualitative feedback on your work with genuine aim for improvement.
I didn't know he tagged with Nash. That's actually pretty cool. STILL...
Mr. Artistic guy
Better Off This Way
Fixed
Is that an actual quote? I thought I was just saying words.
The 1-2-3 Killam
Mid-Card Championship Winner
It's true...
Well, one of us does.
You would think that...
You guys want to hear a fun story? You remember the TNA-Spike TV exclusive I did a few weeks ago? The one that got picked up by TMZ and verified by Meltzer, Alverez, Johnson and every other wrestling guy on the net? That pretty much took it out of me, as far as being a mark on the dirt sheets, trying to "make a name" for myself. What started as a legitimate source, turned into 4 or 5 legitimate sources, turned into a giant clusterfuck that ended up interfering in my personal and private life. I can't go into a lot of it, as I promised a friend I wouldn't, but what I can say is there's some fucked up, bitter immature people in TNA that will go to great lengths to make my day miserable right now. That post ended up costing me a job at a real news network, and losing me the editing gig with Russo.
As far as shitty editorials I've done, sometimes they're good, sometimes they're meh. I try and do a decent job, but some weeks I have very little motivation. Some weeks the shows suck and I've still got to get a column up, because it's a part of the job. Sorry if any of you read one and thought it was shit. For what it's worth, I'm really trying to just keep my head down, and grow up as a person. I like the gig with WZ, and I'm getting a solid paycheck now after 4+ years, but I think I've passed the point in my life where I'm OK being a 24-year-old mark who has "friends" in the wrestling business. You make a lot of "friends" when you've got a big platform to promote them. Very few of them actually give a shit about you.
ANYWAYS, how you guys been? Paglino was wondering if I'd be interested in heading up a Forums piece on the main page every week, instead of Stars in Progress. OR possibly handing over the reigns to KB to head up a Forums piece. Open to pretty much any ideas. Thoughts?
